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473nm laser/diode info?

a4rings

a4rings

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ok so I bought a 405nm laser from likeitbright, and its amazing. but I would like to get a a 473nm blue but Im having a hard time finding a diode and what all is needed for this build. I have never built a laser before but feel like Im up to the challenge. so I just need a little guidance in the right direction please. I was also thinking about buying a 5mw 473nm from dragon lasers but wondered if I would be able to see a beamshot at night without smoke? and if not what would be the min power output that a beamshot is visiable? Thanks for reading.
 





ok there isn't a 473 diode yet ::) dragon lasers are pulsed :P
my 25 mw 473 is kinda visable in my house no smoke i hope this helped :-?
 
473nm lasers are DPSS lasers (for now) and are much more complicated than diodes. The are also much more expensive than most diodes.
 
I guess as long as its truly blue and not violet it really doesnt matter. I found the 405nm to be more violet and the 473nm to be truly blue, and thats what Im looking for. just wondered where I can get parts? or a complete laser.
 
From what I understand, to get a blue laser you have to use a high power IR diode and step it through several crystals that have to be in extremely precise optical alignment - basically, unless you have access to some very expensive equipment and alot of experience, it's not happening.

There's a great document that should be linked to if you do a forum search where the author discusses the necessary steps for theoretically building blue lasers (and green too, which use a similar process in that they go through a crystal set, but are much easier to build since they don't require extremely precise alignment)

Violet 'bluray' lasers, on the other hand, aren't that hard.
 
Apparently there are a number of 445nm diodes being produced, though since they're not being used in any commercial application, they're still limited to engineering samples at several thousand dollars apiece. Here's the datasheet for a 50mW one... Apparently they've had a 500mW version available for more than a year now, though they're $6638.00 each in minimum quantities of 10... http://www.egismos.com/

Here's the thread where daguin found this supplier like a year ago. There are a number of other suppliers offering the same wavelength of diode, though I'm doubting there'll be a significant price difference between them, even after a year.
 
Gallium nitride-based laser diodes are published to be up to ~500nm now. But unless they are being mass produced for some purpose other than hobbyists, which they're not currently, they're going to be VERY expensive.

So currently, the only reasonably-priced way to get blue is DPSS, and even that's not reasonable in some people's minds, as it's in the area of hundreds of $ per mW of power.
 
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